5 Rules to be a Great and Desired RPG Game Master

We did the "6 Rules to be a Great and Desired RPG Player", it's only fair we do a list for GMs. These are rules to be a great GM your players will love.

1. Know what you want - As a GM, know what it is you want from an RPG campaign. Do you prefer dungeon clearing, monty haul, hack-n-slash, or heavy on role playing? Trying to please players by giving them what they want at the expense of what you want is a sure way to resent and eventually dread your gaming sessions. It's a guarantee that if you aren't having fun, none of your players are going to, either.

2. Be transparent with prospective players - Once you've established the style of role-playing you prefer, be clear with potential players about the kind of campaign you run. The player may walk away, but ultimately building a party of players who like what you like about role-playing is much more fun and satisfying for everyone.

3. Be consistent - However you run your campaign, be consistent, not just in your style of play, but in the discretionary decisions you make during play. If you require players to make a certain roll when bartering for goods in the market, be sure everyone must make the roll each time they barter. Inconsistency can frustrate players and make them feel as if your campaign is random and arbitrary and, ultimately, not fair.

4. Keep your secrets secret - If you fudge dice rolls behind your screen, whether in favor of, or against your players, NEVER tell them. Certainly it is your prerogative to do so, but imagine you're a player who just achieved a heroic feat worthy of ballad and song...and then your GM tells you he fudged the result. Suddenly your feat isn't as impressive, you're elation becomes deflation and you no longer feel as good as you did a second ago. Do this often enough and your players will cease to care about outcomes and begin to act as randomly and arbitrarily as they feel you do.

5. Don't rush - Allow the dramatic tension of your current scenario build, give the players room to role-play, and don't try to walk them through a story-line you've predetermined. Allow everyone the comfort and emotional safety to play their characters as they see fit. Don't try to rush the campaign based on a timeline of your devising. Trust that everything will have a chance to unfold, let it do so in its own time.